Jōdo-shū

Hōnen (法然) was born in 1133, the son of Uruma no Tokikuni of a local ruling family in Mimasaka Province.[3] Hōnen was originally named Seishimaru after the mahāsattva Seishi (Sanskrit Mahāsthāmaprāpta). After a rival official assassinated his father in 1141, Hōnen was initiated into his uncle's monastery at the age of 9. From then on, Hōnen lived his life as a monk and eventually studied at the famous monastery of Mount Hiei.

Hōnen was well respected for his knowledge and for his adherence to the Five Precepts, but in time, Hōnen became dissatisfied with the Tendai teachings he learned at Mount Hiei. Influenced by the writings of Shandao, Hōnen devoted himself solely to Amitābha as expressed through the practice of nembutsu.

In time, Hōnen gathered disciples from all walks of life, and developed a large following, notably women, who had been excluded from serious Buddhist practice up to this point. This included fishermen, prostitutes[4] and fortune tellers. Hōnen also distinguished himself by not discriminating against women who were menstruating, thought at the time to be unclean. Some followers more strictly followed Buddhist conduct, whereas others assumed they were saved by Amida Buddha and behaved recklessly, earning criticism from established monastic communities such as Enryakuji and Kofukuji.

To counter these criticisms, Honen insisted his followers sign the Seven Article Pledge, or shichikajō seikai (七箇条制戒) in 1204, pledging not to disparage other sects, and to uphold the Buddha-Dharma. One-hundred and sixty-three followers, including Honen's chief disciples, signed the pledge.[5]

The monastic communities were satisfied for a time, until in 1207, when Kofukuji temple made another petition to the Emperor. Meanwhile, two of Honen's disciples, Jūren (住蓮) and Anraku-bō (安楽房), were caught proselytizing to some of the ladies in waiting of Emperor Go-toba, who had then decided to take tonsure and leave the service of the Emperor. In anger, the Emperor decreed that Honen and several followers be defrocked and sent into exile, while Jūren and Anraku-bō were executed.

This is recorded in the Tannisho of Shinran's disciple, Yuien-bō, as follows:[6]

Master Honen and seven of his disciples were exiled, and four other disciples were executed. The Master was banished to a place called Hata in Tosa province and, stripped of ordination, given a secular name: the male Fujii no Motohiko; he was seventy-six years old. Shinran was exiled to Echigo province. His secular name was Fujii no Yoshizane, he was thirty-five. [Among the others exiled:] Jomon-bo, to Bingo province; Chosai Zenko-bo, to Hoki province; Kokaku-bo, to Izu province; Gyoku Hohon-bo, to Sado province. It was also determined that Kosai Jokaku-bo and Zenne-bo both receive banishment, but the former abbot of Mudo-ji temple took them under his custody.

Jūren and Anraku-bō were executed along with a few other disciples.

Eventually, Hōnen was pardoned and returned to Kyoto in 1211, but died soon after in 1212, just two days after giving his final testament, the One-Sheet Document to disciple Genchi.

The remaining disciples in the capitol collected Honen's writings and erected a mausoleum, while doctrinal disagreements between Honen's disciples Ryūkan, Chōsai and Shōkú escalated.

When Hōnen's work, the Senchakushu, began to circulate in 1227, this enraged the monastic community on Enryakuji, and a force of sōhei warriors were sent to raid the tomb of Hōnen.[5] This is known as the Karoku Persecution (karoku no hōgan 嘉禄の法難) of 1227. Honen's body and copies of the Senchakushu were relocated thanks to advance warning, but other writings of Honen's were destroyed, and more disciples were exiled.[5]

Many, though not all, of the disciples of Honen were exiled to remote provinces in either 1207 by order of Emperor Go-toba, or later in 1227. Each established a local community in their respective provinces and with nuances in the teachings ("gi", 義), but only a two lineages survive today: the Chinzei-ha branch and the Seizan-ha branch (with 3 sub-branches). Other offshoots such as Jodo Shinshu and the Ji-shū sects are considered different enough to be separate from Jodo-shū.

The largest branch of Jōdo-shū, the Chinzei-ha (鎮西派, "The Chinzei Branch"), named after the district of Chinzei in Kita-Kyushu, was originally established in the hometown of disciple, Benchō, who had been exiled in 1207, but grew through subsequent disciples. The rival Seizan-ha (西山派, "The Seizan Branch") and Kuhon-ji branches grew around the capitol of Kyoto, as Shōkū and Chōsai were among the few major disciples who were not exiled.

Finally, Shinran, another disciple established communities in Echigo Province, but the sect gradually differed enough from others to be considered a separate sect, Jodo Shinshu.

Other disciples of note:

• Genchi, Honen's disciple and personal attendant who stayed in Kyoto. Later, met Ryōchū in 1248, and agreed to merge with the Chinzei branch after reaching an accord.[8] Was Hōnen's witness when he dictated the One-Sheet Document, his final testament.
• Shinkū, helped to establish Hōnen's mausoleum, and later protect its relics during the Persecution of 1227.
• Ryūkan, one of Honen's more elderly disciples, emphasized the efficacy of the nembutsu as practice and encouraged its frequent recitation, leading to his teachings being called the "many callings school" or tanen-gi (多念義). He was exiled to eastern Japan in 1227, where he died en route.[8]
• Kōsai, a disciple who advocated that a single recitation of the nembutsu was all that was necessary. His doctrine of "once-calling" or ichinen-gi (一念義) provided considerable controversy, and Honen eventually disavowed Kōsai and his teachings. He was later exiled to the island of Shikoku.[8]
• Chōsai, the last of Hōnen's direct disciples. Where Honen and other Pure Land followers focused on the 18th, or Primal Vow, of Amida Buddha, Chõsai felt that the 20th Vow of the Immeasurable Life Sutra also applied, and thus taught that other practices in Buddhism would lead to birth in the Pure Land. This was the shogyō hongan (諸行本願, "Primal Vow for Miscellaneous Practices") teaching. Founder of the Kuhonji-gi branch (九品寺義), based around Kuhonji temple in Kyoto.[8][7]
• Kujō Kanezane, an influential of the Fujiwara Clan, he helped defend and protect Honen from some political persecution. A number of letters and poetry exchanged Honen and Kanezane have been preserved.
• Awanosuke (阿波介), the fortune-teller, is credited with the double-stranded Buddhist prayer beads used in Jōdo-shū, though he did not establish a branch of his own.

A generation later, Bencho's disciple, Ryōchū, became his disciple for a year, and then spread Benchō's and Hōnen's teachings throughout Japan before reaching the new capital at Kamakura. Ryōchū helped to legitimize the "Chinzei branch" of Jōdo Shū as the mainstream one, and is credited as the 3rd Patriarch accordingly. He also referred to Benchō, his teacher, as the 2nd Patriarch after Hōnen. Ryōchū also met with Renjaku-bo, whose own teacher Genchi, had been another disciple of Hōnen. Renjaku-bo felt that Genchi and Benchō had been in complete agreement, so he willingly united his lineage with Ryōchū's, helping to further increase its standing.[9]

Jōdo Shū through the Chinzei lineage continued to develop until the 8th Patriarch, Shōgei (聖冏, 1341-1420) who formalized the training of priests (rather than training under Tendai or Shingon lineages), thus formally establishing it as an independent sect.

In 1590, during the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Jōdo-shū was officially patronized by Tokugawa Ieyasu,[7][10] leading to an era of great prosperity for the sect that lasted throughout the Edo period and beyond. Zōjō-ji in Edo, previously a Shingon sect temple converted to a Jōdo-shū temple, became the family temple of the Tokugawa clan during the same year, receiving considerable patronage.[11] The mausoleum for several shogun of the Tokugawa family are still interred at Zōjō-ji, though Ieyasu is interred at Toshogu.